Guidance From Bane
by HP Slash Luv
Summary: Hermione looks for guidance.


**Title:** Guidance from Bane  
 **Rating:** T  
 **Pairing(s)/Character(s):** Lucius/Hermione, Bane  
 **Warnings:** None  
 **Disclaimer:** Don't own 'em - not making any money off 'em. Dern it.  
 **Word Count:** 678  
 **Summary:** Hermione looks for guidance.  
 **Notes:** I did my best to convey there was no Pureblood mania, and I hoped I succeeded.

 **Ultimate OTP AU Competition III:** No Pureblood Mania! AU

 **Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry: **Chocolate Frog - Centaur – Gold – Write about a character meeting a Centaur in the Forbidden Forest.

* * *

Hermione trudged through the Forbidden Forest. She knew this was dangerous, but she needed to take to Firenze. She heard hooves on the ground and stopped walking.

A centaur came into view, but it wasn't Firenze. She backed away, not sure if this one would be friendly or threatening. It was a tossup when it came to centaurs

"My name is Bane. What do you want?"

"I'm looking for Firenze."

"What is your purpose with him?"

"He can read the stars, and I'm getting married in two weeks. I want to know if I'm making a mistake."

Bane tilted his head to the side and Hermione found herself drawn to his eyes. They really were beautiful and Hermione found herself just a little bit jealous of them. She would have loved having eyes like his instead of her plain brown ones. "You came all the way into the Forbidden Forest for that? Does your betrothed realize you are taking such a risk?"

She rolled her eyes. "First of all, he's not my betrothed. He's my fiancée. And no, he doesn't know. He doesn't know I have doubts about us, either."

"Why do you doubt him and you? Do you not love each other?"

Hermione looked at the ground. "We do, or at least I _think_ we do. Many marriages end up in divorce, though. Why should we be any different?"

"It's up to you two if that's going to happen. It takes two people to make a marriage work and two people to make a marriage break up."

"But if we don't get married, it will save us from a lot of pain."

"But you won't have the joyous memories either."

"Maybe. You know, when I first met Lucius, I developed a crush on him almost instantly. He was so handsome and worldly. And so mature, and I liked matured guys. He was the father of a schoolmate. I hated his son because he thought he was better than everyone else because his family had money. And although Lucius had some arrogance in him, his son was so much worse. And Lucius treated me kindly. When his son insulted me because I chose to be friends with Ron, who was poor, and Harry, who looked like he was poor, Lucius reprimanded him."

He sounded like he cared about you when he shouldn't, especially if you were a minor."

Hermione smiled. "He made me feel special, like I was worthy. He was the first person to ever make me feel like that, and even when I had boyfriends while at Hogwarts, they never affected me in the same way Lucius did. And I never believed he would return my feelings, but on my seventeenth birthday, he came to me in the Muggle world, and in front of my parents, told me he cared about me. And that he wanted me to be at his side for eternity. I thought my dad was going to get his shotgun and shoot the grown man that was confessing to having deep feelings for his just-turned seventeen daughter. Thankfully, my mother was touched by the display and stopped him. Lucius than told my parents that he respected me and would treat me the way a woman deserved to be treated. I think he might have won my father over with those words."

"Then why are you considering walking away from him? It sounds like he's everything you could ever want. Go home to him and tell him you love him."

Hermione bowed to the centaur that had such wise words and helped Hermione figure things out for herself. "I will, and thank you, Bane."

That night, when Hermione crawled into bed next to Lucius, she cuddled against him. "I love you."

Lucius kissed her forehead as his fingers gently caressed her side, sending delicious tingles throughout her body. "I love you too."

When her hands traveled down his hard stomach, getting closer and closer to his prominent erection, her last thought as she gripped it was, _'I can't wait to be Mrs. Malfoy.'_


End file.
